Zoe Gilbody leaves it late to land national treble

The Bridgnorth runner battled her way to a dramatic victory in the junior girls’ race at the English Schools Cross Country Championships, held at Sefton Park, Liverpool, to claim her third national title in an amazing four-week period.

In doing so, she became the only athlete in the country, in any age group, to manage a hat-trick of triumphs this year before the season was halted due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Running for Shropshire Schools, Zoe won by the narrowest of margins as she swooped on leader Jessica Bailey (Cumbria) in the final few strides.The duo crossed the line together and were both given the same time of 11 minutes three seconds for the undulating three kilometre course.

Race officials took a while to decide the winner, but after an agonising wait for Shropshire supporters and the Gilbody family, they finally gave the verdict to Zoe.

The race was so close that the official finish-line photograph made it on to the front cover of the national Athletics Weekly publication.

The Prestfelde School student’s success followed up victories in the National Championships at Nottingham and the British Inter Counties Championships at Loughborough.

And what makes the victory more impressive is that while Zoe was at the top of her Year 8 age group in the National and Inter Counties, in the English Schools she was up against Year 9 students.

She is the first Shropshire Schools girl to win an English Schools Cross Country title and only the third athlete from the county to strike gold since the championships started in 1961.

Lee Hughes, from Newport, won the junior boys’ title at the same venue in 1994 and Will Levett claimed the senior boys’ honours at Stoneleigh in 1995.

“Zoe has had an unbelievable year, what she has done has never been done by a Shropshire athlete,” said Paul Sanderson, secretary of the Shropshire Schools Athletic Association.

“And what a finish to the English Schools race. I watched her come past with about 300 metres to go and it looked as if she might be overtaken for third.

“When I got round the finish line I asked Zoe’s mom if she had held on for third? She said, ‘no, she might have won it!’

“It’s very rare that you get photo-finishes in cross country races and it was brilliant when the decision went Zoe’s way. And to make the front of Athletics Weekly is also very special. That is usually reserved for the likes of Mo Farah and Dina Asher-Smith.

“To win three national titles in the same year is amazing. You don’t want to put any pressure on a young athlete but she is a very special runner.”

The only downside for Zoe was the fact that in usual circumstances the first eight would have been selected to run for England Schools in the British Schools Championships in Scotland. But that meeting was cancelled and the athletes were not presented with their England vests.

Zoe’s was the standout Shropshire performance, but there were some other very fine displays from the county’s runners.

In the same junior girls’ race, Isabelle Price (William Brookes School) finished in 30th.

The second best Shropshire performance of the day came from Beth Rawlinson (Concord College) who was 13th in the intermediate girls’ race.

It was the Wenlock Olympian athlete’s highest English Schools finish and followed on from her Midland Championships success earlier in the season.

Another Midland champion, Thomas Telford School’s Liam Rawlings, was the highest-placed Shropshire boy as he came home 26th.

He was well supported by Shrewsbury School cross country captain Sam Western, who also ran well to finish 84th in the senior 6.7 kilometre race.

Shropshire Schools and Midland Counties champion Dan Galloway (Oldbury Wells School) led a strong intermediate boys team home, finishing 41st.

He was closely followed home by the Shrewsbury School pair of Will Singleton (50th) and Harrison Cutler (78th). And with three finishers in the top 80, that gave Shropshire their best team result of the day, as they ended in 21st place.

Maddie Williams (Shrewsbury High School) and Abi Preston (Thomas Telford) came 69th and 80th respectively in the senior girls’ race, which helped the team finish 29th.